Part of Oral Answers to Questions — ST. Vincent – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 16 June 1964.
Mr Nigel Fisher
, Surbiton
12:00,
16 June 1964
The Government command a Majority in the Legislative Council in St. Vincent. Frankly, I do not wish to defend every aspect of Mr. Joshua's Government—we have had to criticise it on several occasions—but no particular incident has in itself justified a dissolution or a suspension.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
